Author Archives: Jessica Braasch

About Jessica Braasch

Since 2015 in the tellows team with a focus on Business Development and Marketing. My passion is analyzing marketing strategies and perfecting content. I present the developments of tellows as well as trends related to telephone fraud on the blog. Contact

Top 5 Spam Numbers of the Week in Australia

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It’s a new week, but the spammers take no break. We collected the current top spam numbers from tellows-au.com and tell you what they are about. This week we share phone numbers with you that sent text spam messages all over Australia.

Phone in hand

tellows’ Top 5 Text Spam Numbers of the Week

1. 0422859388 by provider Optus with a tellows Score of 7
2. 0427006689 by provider Telstra – with a tellows Score of 8
3. 0421374155 by provider Optus – with a tellows Score of 7
4. 0429478744 by provider Telstra – with a tellows Score of 8
5. 0438273649 by provider Telstra – with a tellows Score of 8
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Top 5 Spam Numbers in Australia

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Whenever someone receives a call from a strange number, we get quite uncomfortable. It could be a legitimate call from our insurance company or an acquaintance. But what if it is a scammer? How can we be sure about the caller? Don’t worry, tellows is here to help you. You can check an unknown number on tellows-au.com to see who called and why. This week we inform you about the latest fraud numbers that have been recently reported all over Australia.

Incoming Call

tellows’ Top 5 Spam Numbers of the Week

1. 0370679621 from Melbourne with a tellows Score of 8
2. 0861462979 from Perth – with a tellows Score of 8
3. 0423556255 from Optus – with a tellows Score of 8 (Courier Scam via SMS)
4. 0390875570 from Melbourne – with a tellows Score of 8
5. 0386389099 from Melbourne – with a tellows Score of 8
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How to protect yourself from Scam Calls in Australia

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We’ve all seen spam and fraud in our everyday life. Luckily, it is often easy to see through them before it is too late. But especially on the phone, it can be tricky to distinguish a genuine call from a scam call. On tellows-au.com we receive reports about scam callers everyday. The users may ask themselves, why is the person calling me? The caller already knows my name and address, so it has to be trustworthy, right? – No way! We tell you what common frauds look like and how you can protect yourself from them.

Scam Losses Rise

In 2021 Scamwatch reported, that losses exceeded $211 million in the phone scam area between January and September. This numbers is even higher than it was for the whole year 2020. In 2021 Scamwatch received over 113,000 reports about phone scams.

Less people reported losing money in 2021. On the other hand, those people who lost money, have lost larger amounts with an average loss of $11,000.

Scamwatch Report 2021

Top 10 Scam Categories of 2021, Source: scamwatch.gov.au
Scamwatch published the top 10 scam methods of 2021. Phishing is the most reported scam showing how dangerous this scam has become and that exercising precaution with sharing data is the number one priority.

Common Types of Scams

Scammers like to tell stories and make you believe that the call is urgent by putting pressure on you. For example there is a time senstitive event with only limited offers left or your safety is at risk when you don’t allow access to your computer or pay a debt immediately. Sometimes they pretend to be from well-known company or your insurance. Maybe you also receive a text message or a silent call where you have no chance to even answer the phone. These are just some tricks Australian scammers use to make you call back and share sensitive data.

It’s very concerning to see these scams evolving and becoming more sophisticated to steal even more money from unsuspecting people. – ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard

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How has the Covid pandemic affected telephone spam worldwide?

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We have been living with the restrictions that the Covid19 virus brings with it for six months. The time cuts are different in many countries and regions. The economy around the world is severely affected by the effects and regulations of the government. But how has calling behavior changed during the pandemic?

Fewer calls in lockdown

Almost every company needs the telephone in everyday life, regardless of whether it is for daily customer support, consultation or appointment arrangements, or sales and acquisition. Due to the restrictions in daily work and the increase in home office activities, the number of calls has changed in many places. Many companies have not only moved their work home, but have been forced to severely restrict business lines.

This is reflected in calling behavior, which has changed significantly during the pandemic and especially during the strict lockdown. External telephony was greatly reduced, not only because other companies were less accessible and technically poorly equipped at home, the economic situation also meant that appointments, support or expenses through sales and collaborations were not made or were limited until further notice. This also applies to call centers and companies that use phone calls for undesirable purposes such as telephone spam, advertising or even fraud.

tellows shows the history of caller activity in different countries

Even on tellows we experienced fewer reported calls and fewer numbers were searched, which is noticeable in the low number of calls made in general.

In the following diagram, we show you the caller behavior over time in the UK and France.

Search requests tellows 2020
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The 7 biggest myths about telephone scam and Co.

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Dear tellows-fellows,

Superficial knowledge can be dangerous, we all know that. In terms of telephone advertising and fraud, it can cost you a lot of money and nerves! Therefore, today we present you the most common myths regarding telephone advertising, telephone fraud and possible manipulations on tellows and clearify them.

money transfer

1. Telephone scam only affects older people

As soon as one hears of telephone scam, one has more in mind the 93-year-old Mary-Ann, who was tricked by fraudsters, than the 26-year-old computer science student Stella. The fact is: Fraudsters often try to scam older target groups since they tend to be less careful and easier to be fooled. They are not always informed about the latest phone scam tricks, so a call from an alleged family member or the bank employee can turn into a costly trap.

However, this does not mean that everyone else can think themselves safe. Since there are many types of fraud, the victims differ. There are even tricks that mainly lead to success for the fraudsters among younger people. Such an example would be the Microsoft support scam, which targets access to sensitive data from their victims on the phone. According to Microsoft, this stitch is particularly successful in the age group of 18 to 34 years.

2. As long as I don’t give out any data about myself, I can’t lose any money

Unfortunately, this is also a misconception. It is true that you should never reveal your data on the phone, but there are other ways to get your money. Ping calls pose a great risk here. In this case, the fraudsters ring only a few seconds to provoke a recall. If this is done, a high fee will be charged, as the numbers are often foreign and you will be drawn into a waiting loop that can cost you a lot of money per minute.
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How do I redeem my tellows app coupon code?

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If you have received a coupon code for the tellows app, you can use it to activate a free 1-year subscription. Activation is confirmed via the Play Store or iTunes. After the free year, the subscription changes to a paid subscription. If you don’t want this, you can cancel the subscription beforehand so that it is not renewed.

How can I activate the code in my Android app?
How can I activate the code in my iOS app?

How can I activate the code in my Android app?

tellows Android Apptellows Android Apptellows Android App

Step 1: Click on “Premium” in the app menu and enter the code at the bottom of the page with “Redeem coupon”.

Step 2: Then confirm the free subscription at the top of the page by clicking the “Buy” button, which will take you to the Play Store.

Step 3: Activation only takes place when you confirm the free subscription via the Play Store. In the Google Play dialog you will also see how long the free period lasts and when the subscription becomes chargeable.

If you already have a subscription, your existing subscription will be extended with the free period so that the purchase period is postponed. You can view the subscription details in the Play Store.

How can I activate the code in my iOS app?

tellows iOS Apptellows iOS Apptellows iOS Apptellows iOS Apptellows iOS Apptellows iOS App

Step 1: Visit the tellows deals page: tellows.de/tellows-deals

Step 2: Enter your code in the input field to receive your individual iOS voucher code. Save the code.

Step 3: Now open your iOS app and click on the “Pro” menu.

Step 4: Scroll down to the Coupon Code button.

Step 5: Enter your previously individually created code and follow the dialog.

Step 6: Finally, you have to confirm the premium subscription, which includes a free trial period of one year. The iTunes dialog also shows you how long the free period lasts and when the subscription becomes chargeable.

Step 7: You will then return to the app, where the active subscription will be displayed in gold with a one-year test period. Pro is now ready to use in your app.

If you are already using a subscription or had a subscription in the past, unfortunately you cannot use the coupon code.

Any questions or problems?
We are happy to help you! Simply use our support page.

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tellows database – Where does the information about dubious phone numbers come from?

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tellows Scam Caller Types
Thanks to its large community, tellows offers up-to-date data on unknown phone numbers from all over the world. Using this information, we have developed various solutions to warn consumers of unwanted calls while the phone rings.

Where does the information come from?

More than 9 million users in more than 50 countries use the tellows website, the tellows applications and the partner products every month to find information about unknown calls and report details about frequently called telephone numbers. More than 20,000 reviews are received every month. Users share the name of the caller, the type of call and the purpose. Positive telephone numbers can also be reported and company entries for various industries can be stored to help people find your business.

Regular checks of the content are necessary for a reliable protection. tellows performs manual checks and uses automatic spam checks to ensure optimal data quality and to avoid manipulations.

How is the tellows database structured?

The database contains only phone numbers with existing ratings that are of public interest as they have called a lot of people. A phone number can have multiple ratings. With the help of the ratings, tellows creates an average score, which makes it possible to estimate the reliability of the number. The database of a rated telephone number contains the tellows score, the caller type, the caller name, the number of ratings and search queries, the location, excerpts from comments and other assigned caller names and types.
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Introducing Our New iPhone App Partner

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Dear tellows fellows,

tellows database consists of over millions of telephone numbers reported by our users worldwide. As you can read on our API page, we are always open for any collaboration and partnership by offering the access to our database. Recently, we made a collaboration with Ever Apps LLC to support its anti spam call app for iPhone with the tellows database. In case you haven’t heard of this application, here’s a quick overview of our new partner app!

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Annual Review 2018

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Dear tellows fellows,

we, the tellows team, sincerely wish you a happy new year!

Thanks to you and your endless support we could reach our goals and grow even more in 2018. From the new features of the tellows app to our new and fresh homepage design, we will tell you all the important news in the following annual review. Check it out! Continue reading →

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Tech Support Scam Returns with a New Trick

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Dear tellows fellows,

as you might remember, we have posted an article about fake technical support scam in the beginning of last August to warn you of the rising issue of a Microsoft scam. Microsoft has also released several statements on their official website to warn people about this fraud. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop scammers from finding other ways to trick people.

Recently, we found out that many fake tech support scammers have been using another method to deceive Microsoft users. They take advantage of Microsoft TechNet portals and created over 3000 fake pages. The TechNet portal is usually used by Microsoft users to save documentations of products and images as well as to offer community forums for its users. Unfortunately, the scammers have found a way to use the subdomain of TechNet portal, gallery.technet.microsoft.com, in order to be displayed on Google. Although the pages are usually blank pages with error message, the scammers’ purpose is to display their phone numbers on the headline of the pages. They mostly affiliate the tech support with Bitcoin or Coinbase Helpdesk. The problem has gotten bigger, as the fraudsters were able to rank quite high on google search and their fake pages were displayed on the first page when the users search for keywords such as “Helpdesk Microsoft”, “Helpdesk Coinbase”, etc.
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